Movie critics use the word "quirky" often (maybe too often) to describe films about odd or eccentric characters. The novelty
of such movies is usually appreciated ... until you get something like "Running with Scissors," where the quirkiness feels forced and self-conscious, as if the movie is saying, "Hey, get a load of how unusual these people are!" Much of the wackiness no doubt comes from the bestseller it's based on, in which author Augusten Burroughs recounts what supposedly was his true and factual childhood, albeit with some of the names changed (like, um, his own). I haven't read the book, though I gather the movie is largely faithful to it. Still, we are reviewing the movie, not the book. If the movie has flaws, it doesn't matter whose fault they are. We begin in 1972 in a cartoonishly sunny house decorated in yellows and whites. It's the home of Deidre Burroughs (Annette Bening), part-time alcoholic and chain-smoker, would-be celebrity poet, and mother to 6-year-old Augusten (Jack Kaeding). Deidre and Augusten are excessively attached to one another, making up silly excuses for him to miss school and conspiring against Dad (Alec Baldwin), himself a champion-level drinker who has no idea what to make of his dotty wife and their precocious son.
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